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A T1 line can only transfer 1.5 Mb/s (though uploads are just as fast), and super-high-speed fiber connections typically max out at 10 Mb/s continuous, with short bursts up to 20 Mb/s. On the low end, a cheap $20/month DSL connection is usually only 256 kb/s, or 0.25 Mb/s, for downloading, max.

And the movie portion of a Blu-Ray disc typically runs from 20-35 GB in size. That's a HUGE amount of data to transfer.

Finally, there's the copyright issues, and the fact that most Blu-Rays are not in the public domain, so it is against federal law to copy them, or even to break the encryption used to protect them.

NetFlix streams 720p to the Roku and other devices and is supposed to be working on 1080i; not quite BluRay though. And I'm a bit short of bandwidth on my DSL connection. It supposedly works very well on a 5MB or better connection.

A T1 line can only transfer 1.5 Mb/s (though uploads are just as fast), and super-high-speed fiber connections typically max out at 10 Mb/s continuous, with short bursts up to 20 Mb/s. On the low end, a cheap $20/month DSL connection is usually only 256 kb/s, or 0.25 Mb/s, for downloading, max.

And the movie portion of a Blu-Ray disc typically runs from 20-35 GB in size. That's a HUGE amount of data to transfer.

Finally, there's the copyright issues, and the fact that most Blu-Rays are not in the public domain, so it is against federal law to copy them, or even to break the encryption used to protect them.

T1? What year are you living in, 1994? Nobody thinks in those terms anymore... it's irrelevant since nobody uses T1 for anything anymore. Anything that was T1 15 years ago is fiber now.

$20/month DSL is usually at least 768 kb/s (e.g. att/yahoo dsl) and $40/month gets you 6Mb/s. I regularly test out at about 6.5 Mb/sec and my service costs less than $40/month. As for fiber optic, again... not sure what planet you are on but Verizon FIOS offers 50Mb/s and the theoretical limit is well above 1Gb/sec with standard, currently available technology for last mile delivery

If there was demand, we could all have service fast enough for streaming blu-ray right now. However, the demand isn't there (yet) and there are other infrastructure issues, as well. That said, Blu-ray is a sitting duck, and will sink into irrelevancy before the last nail, direct delivery of 1080, goes in the coffin.

BTW, OP, iTunes has 720p of many shows and movies and the quality is much better (less compression) than other services that deliver 720p "HD" online.

T1? What year are you living in, 1994? Nobody thinks in those terms anymore... it's irrelevant since nobody uses T1 for anything anymore. Anything that was T1 15 years ago is fiber now.

I'm well aware of what is available *in a few select areas*, but most folks I know don't have those speeds, or choose not to pay for them. Many people don't understand the difference between sending an email or browsing Amazon.com and downloading a Blu-Ray. Keep in mind that you're just over the hill from Silicon Valley (I'm from the Bay Area).

I have 16 Mb/s service, which is the fastest offered in my area by any provider, but it's expensive at >$100/month. I'm a geek, and Internet is of huge important to me, so I pay for it, and I use it, a lot. Most people don't/won't pay for those speeds at those prices. But it would still take me a day or two to download a Blu-Ray.

There are also 100,000 people within 20 miles of where I am right now who can't get any faster than 2 Mb/s from any provider, with most not even having 2 Mb. They won't be downloading any Blu-Rays anytime soon.

NetFlix streams 720p to the Roku and other devices and is supposed to be working on 1080i; not quite BluRay though. And I'm a bit short of bandwidth on my DSL connection. It supposedly works very well on a 5MB or better connection.

I have 3MB DSL and Netflix looks great on a 32" LCD 720P TV using the Roku box.

A T1 line can only transfer 1.5 Mb/s (though uploads are just as fast), and super-high-speed fiber connections typically max out at 10 Mb/s continuous, with short bursts up to 20 Mb/s. On the low end, a cheap $20/month DSL connection is usually only 256 kb/s, or 0.25 Mb/s, for downloading, max.

And the movie portion of a Blu-Ray disc typically runs from 20-35 GB in size. That's a HUGE amount of data to transfer.

Finally, there's the copyright issues, and the fact that most Blu-Rays are not in the public domain, so it is against federal law to copy them, or even to break the encryption used to protect them.

Standard DSL is actually 768k to 1.5mb down. I pay $20/mo for 1.5/512 DSL and that is pretty standard of most providers with a bundle. I can also grab 10/1 service for $60/mo if I wanted to. Usually only extended reach DSL plans will be down in the 256k or 512k range.

Most cable is up to 10 or 15mb down for around $50/mo. Fiber is WAY faster than 10mb....FiOS is hitting 25/15 for $70/mo and 50/20 at around $140/mo. Yes, still WAY too slow for bluray, but much faster than what you are talking about. Most still have way more bandwidth than what they need to check email and surf the web, especially many cable customers where plans start at around 5mb down

I am talking from my experience with many customers, both in the cities and rural (I live in a very rural area). As well as just knowing most of the plans and tiers of the major ISPs.

Fiber has the potential to do much higher quality streaming, but it is in limited areas and the plans that support the huge download speeds are typically expensive.

T1? What year are you living in, 1994? Nobody thinks in those terms anymore... it's irrelevant since nobody uses T1 for anything anymore. Anything that was T1 15 years ago is fiber now.

T1 still is very standard in businesses for reasons besides speed (it really is not that fast at all at 1.5/1.5). T1 has many advantages for voice lines and the SLA contracts that can come along with it. Many ISPs will also support more advanced functions with only T1 lines. T3 is the bigger brother, but is VERY pricey on top of the already very pricey T1.

I hope this fits in this forum. Is it possible to download Blu-ray movies via the internet using Netflix or BlockBuster? I was told this weekend that only SD versions can be sent via the net.

I always thought Blu-ray was a storage technology based optical media of one or more layers and a new laser.

Movies on Blu-ray are just high-definition movies stored on the Blu-ray optical media.

And while some of these movies may be available in HD through various providers, their catalogs are small, their Internet transport questionable, and the required access not trivial.

For instance, MPEG-2 based HD content can run 28-30 Mbps, and using better CODECs like h.264 can bring that down to about 8-9 Mbps, the idea of maintaining that level of internet bandwidth for the duration of a movie while those packets are treated no differently than someone else's Internet traffic makes the final solicitation diluted (IMO).

Here in Phoenix, Qwest has changed over most of the city to it's fiber system, I've got 12mbps service for $43 a month, 20mbps runs about $55 a month or so.

I've got "VOD" through D*, a lot of it's content is HD but it's not true instant. Stuff d/l's to your DVR...but my progress bar turns green pretty quickly and I can start watching without bumping against the buffer.

Speed tests with the HD DVR indicates it's maxing out at about 6mbps (D*'s system limits from what I've been told).

Never had any problems streaming Netflix (HD and regular) to my PS3 (which is wired, via AC connect modules) or my newer BR player which is linked with my wifi (g).

Speed tests on the PS3 indicate its running 10+mbps, which is pretty much the actual limits of my 12mbps service.